Autocrats, such as our present twitter version, need followers but fear rivals. When a Hitler or Stalin rises to power, the other powerful figures in his orbit who might pose a challenge, an Ernst Rohm or Trotsky, are soon eliminated.
Paranoia comes with the territory and breeds the purge, the Night of the Long Knives, the Great Terror, the Cultural Revolution, ostensibly to purify the party. Soon the only acceptable members of the ruling party surrounding the caudillo, despot or godfather are blind loyalists, sycophants and enablers.
Once only the voices of yes men are permitted to be heard, the enemies list is compiled, the cult of personality is born, and the increasingly isolated leader loses touch with reality. Roman emperors were deified as were Sun Kings from Egypt to Versailles. Hitler, Stalin and Mao became modern versions and their methods are still emulated in China, North Korea, Russia and now, alas, the White House.
No tyrants last forever and dynasties haven’t really caught on in democracies. Trump has been enabled by his party toadies but hampered by his inability to gain full totalitarian control. Power over the media is a prerequisite for the modern tyrant and Trump has Fox News , Breitbart and the darker corners of the web, but there are still news outlets willing to speak truth to power.
Trump has put lackeys in charge of the Justice, State, and other government departments, but many underlings still act as if they served the people, not the maximum leader. Many have left, voluntarily or otherwise, but they have not lost the power of speech or the right to use it.
One whistleblower’s revelations have led to an impeachment trial and more and more are sure to keep coming forward. There is so much to expose to the disinfectant of the light. Elections are also still free, though Trump, many Republican stooges at the state level, and the Russians are working to corrupt the process.
Republicans still trying to survive and prosper in Trump’s Washington seem to be thoroughly cowed. Those who speak ill of He Who Must Be Obeyed aren’t liquidated, but their careers often vanish in a hail of tweets. Paul Ryan, Bob Corker, Mark Sanford, Jeff Flake and other insufficiently groveling members of the party are gone. One ill-considered remark and you are soon smeared by the Ministry of Propaganda or primaried by members of the Trumpian Brown Shirts or Red Guard.
Many clearly believe the safest strategy is to become a member of the cult of personality, as the behavior of House and Senate members shows, but short term gain has long term risks, The case of the Nixon administration is instructive.
Those who enabled Nixon’s attacks on real and imagined enemies and his electoral corruption suffered for it. The closer to the seat of power, the worse the punishment. Nixon got a pardon, they got a rap sheet. Do Trump’s minions really think they are going to be any more immune than Nixon’s men?
They might want to think twice. At least 23 of that president’s men were convicted of crimes including two attorney generals, one of whom served 18 months in jail and lost hs law license, one assistant attorney general, a secretary of Commerce, officers the CIA and FBI, a White House Press Secretary, White House Counsel, the president’s Chief of Staff, his personal attorney, and campaign dirty tricksters.
Those now implicated in acts of questionable legality who serve Trump include an Attorney General, a Chief of Staff, a Secretary of State, at least one White House Counsel, several of the president’s personal attorneys, campaign aides, bag men, goons, and family members.
When the walls began to close in around Nixon, those who argued for his innocence and dismissed the case against him as a political witch hunt and fake news carried the taint forever after, while those Republicans courageous or canny enough to stand up to the conniver-in-chief before it was too late won respect and are still remembered as men who did the right thing when it counted.
In a House Judiciary Committee made up of 21 Democrats and 17 Republicans, seven of the Republicans voted for at least one of the three Articles of Impeachment including Caldwell Butler of Virginia, William Cohen of Maine, Hamilton Fish of New York, Tom Railsback of Illinois, Larry Hogan of Maryland, Robert McClory of Illinois, Harold Froehlich of Wisconsin.
Five of them were returned to Congress three months later in November 1974, two lost their seats — Froehlich and Hogan — but went on to have fine careers as a judge and politician. One could attribute their loss to punishment for not standing by Nixon, but nationwide standing by Nixon was a poison pill. Nixon’s party suffered a drubbing, losing 49 House seats and four Senate seats.
Are Trump loyalists really sure they are making the smart choice in hearing, seeing and speaking no evil, or are they going down with a sinking ship? That may depend on whether the American people still value democracy and dislike corruption as much as they did in 1974, or, more chillingly, it may hinge on whether Trump and his enablers in Congress, media and the Kremlin succeed in subverting an American election in November.